Need help on designing studio

Hi, I post some question about control room design a while ago. And now, I'm thinking of building a studio in my basement. Here's a picture of my basement. The measurements are in meter units. The problems are that the grey-shaded area is 2.60meters high, and the unshaded area is 3.22meters. Also, there are some pillars that can't be removed, because they support the structure above the basement. I'm thinking of a mixing room, with a studio which can acommodate drums, probably a vocal booth also, and a guitar amp room, so we can do live takes for our band. Any suggestion? Ari

It's a bit tricky with all those columns. No chance of removing the right hand column?? It's not as hard as one might think and it would dramatically increase your oportunities in this space. I've redrawn it so it's not upside down and you can read the measurements. cheers john

Thanks for your redrawing. :) Oops, there's a mistake of the drawing that I made. the right wall, is basicly not a permanent wall, it's the entrance of the basement, and it can be moved accordingly. Right now, it's a wall with a big entry at the northeast, with 2meters wide. I will post another drawing. About the column, I try my best to remove the column, but still maintaining the structure above. It probably can be removed, but not completely, maybe move it to the right or left. Actually it only supports the roof. The left columns, on the other hand, are supporting the concrete floor above it, that's why the height of that area is shorter that the right area. And those columns can't be removed. Ari

Here's my first trial layout of the space. It's quite tricky with those columns. :? The layout here is basic layout, so any adjustment can be made, and I need help from you guys. The proposed control room is the rectangle one at the lower right. I know that most control rooms are not rectangles, so any inputs are welcome. There are two rooms, the smaller room, which may be a vocal booth or iso booth for amps, and a bigger room. The drum is placed so people can imagine how big the room is. It too can be adjusted. I'm thinking of 3 rooms actually, so we can accomodate live acoustic session with drums, because our band is consisting of drums, acoustic upright, guitars, and violin, and this is going to be our home studio, with occasional rental for additional benefit. So, any words of wisdom. If there is any better layout, feel free. I'll be more than happy. Ari

Oops, corrections! The picture's already had three tracking rooms. But I'm thinking of using the bottom left part of the space as a storage room for other stuff. After all, it's our basement, so we need storage room. And the opening is at the bottom wall (south wall), although it wasn't in the drawing, and it can be moved across the south wall. Ari

Ari - I really think you have to get rid of that pole - If it's holding up the ceiling a simple truss will fix it. Otherwaise you aren't going o get a decent speaker spread which ideally should be around 3 meters. Then you could look at something like this. cheers john

I'll try to get rid of the pole in the middle of the space, but not the two poles at the upper part of the space, because they support the concrete second floor above, so the drum room will have two poles in it. Is it okay? Can I make the control room smaller? The design you suggested is using two pairs of monitor, the big ones and the nearfields. I only have nearfield monitors (Auratone QC66), and if I really need other monitor, I can't afford those big ones, the cash is limited. My recording studio is using PC DAW, with 1604VLZ Mackie mixer for preamps, and some other preamps going to MOTU 2408mkIII. So the space in the control room would be too big. Is this big size really neccesary? Ari

Sure you can make it smaller, mind you , the bigger it is the better it will sound. Also try to make it angular as opposed to rectangular. cheers john

Here's my trial design. (Finally. :)) Comments please. There's some details added to the picture. The poles can't be moved, they support the second floor. This is only the layout of the studio. I'm hoping that anyone can give suggestion about acoustic treatment, and where to place it. Or if anybody has better idea of the layout, feel free. And there's more. The room between the drum room and the studio has water pipes for the house, and it's also can't be removed. Can I use the room as an iso/vocal booth? I'm thinking of covering the water pipes, so they're in a closet, which I can open sometimes for service. Ari

That's really cool Ari - you've resolved the spaces very well. My only comment would be to add a window between the drum room and the main studio?? also - you really should consider building a soffit mount into the control room - you may get bigger speakers further down the track;) cheers john

Thanks John. I draw a picture of the soffit mounted speaker, is it right? Few questions: - Can I put glass window under the soffit, just like what I draw in the picture? - The walls are going to be rockwools on frames, but the cost is quite expensive. And I'm thinking of using brick wall instead, and for sound treatment, just frames with stretched fabrics, which some are using rockwool underneath. It's going to be far cheaper. Do you think this is a good idea? Ari

Yes you can put glass under the speakers Ari BUT have you considered the structural problems you will encounter?? The whole front will need to be cantilevered :shock: :shock: cheers john

Well no, still thinking about it, haven't decided yet. How about the brick wall, can I use brick wall instead of rockwools on frames for the studio room, then after that, I put acoustic treatment on them? Ari

Sure you can use bricks - cement mixer and all that!! :roll: :roll: make sure you bag both sides (seal with loose sand cement mix). cheers john

Wat do you mean by bag both sides???

Hi, Jeronimo - In Australia, the term is bagging - in other areas, it's sometime called "rendering" - what it means is to mix some cement and sand (kind of a sloppy mortar mix) and wipe it on both sides of the masonry. A slightly thicker mortar mix is used in "rendering", with up to about 1/2" layer of mortar on each side. The purpose of this is to seal the porous surfaces of the masonry. In some of the more porous kinds of masonry, this will improve the STC of the wall by several dB... Steve

Yeah we use both terms steve - bagging is the loose sloopy mix you described whilst rendering is the full 1/2" cement layer. cheers john

Thanks for the clarification, John - I was thinking it was just a terminology difference... Steve

Hi, After I consult my builder, he said that it's possible to move all the columns, so now the space is really big! :) I already have a design here. It consists of one control room, one studio, and a soundlock which (hopely) can be used as a vocal/amp booth. Comments please. :) The grey-shaded area is only 2,6m high, while the other is 3,2m high. I put the control room at the 2,6m high ceiling area. So my control room would be lower than the studio's height. Any suggestions? Ari

Ah - no poles - cool :) the geometry of your control room design needs attention to stop the parallel walls? cheers john

There are no parallel walls, but the angle is very slightly. Is it enough, or do you think it needs more angle? Also, the vocal booth/soundlock is quite narrow (width ranges from 1 to 1.25m), is it adequate for a vocal booth? Ari

bolehnggak wrote:

There are no parallel walls, but the angle is very slightly. Is it enough, or do you think it needs more angle?

Looking at your floorplan, the walls in the control room look like they are paralleled. Read around here and you will see the accepted minimum is a total of 12 degrees in wall splay to combat standing waves and flutter echo. Bryan

Ok, here's my new picture. I angled the side walls more, so from they are 6 degrees each from the local y-plane, so the total angle will be 12 degrees. Is it enough? Ari

Yup - that's better ;) cheers john

Boleng, it looks like your CR is still not symetrical. on that wall adjecent to the "sound lock", you have a bit of a "broken wall" where the door is...or am I not seing correct??